Honeydew
by IceByrd67
Summary: When Briar finally returns to Sotat, he runs into a friend he thought he had lost. can he save her from her troubles? (short story)(finished)(some refrences to prostitutes.)


Roses are Red, Violets are Blue, I dun own, so please dun sue. (I don't even own this poem!)  
  
"---"=speaking  
  
'---'= mindtalk  
  
*---*=thoughts  
  
The Circle Opens series never happened. I just thought I would share that.  
  
  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Briar sighed. It had been 8 years since he last been here in Sotat. Hajra, actually. He had been banned from his childhood home when he was discovered by Niklaren Goldeye, one of his teachers, and saved from the hard life working the docks. He hadn't been allowed back into Sotat until he took his formal mage vows at Winding Circle Temple in Emelan. He was eighteen now and a full mage, along with his foster sisters, Lady Sandrilene fa Toren, Trisana Chandler, and Daja Kisubo, all of which were only older or younger by a matter of months.  
  
"I'll see you in a bit. I want to see my old haunts." Briar told his beloved teacher, Rosethorn. 7 years ago, he nearly gave up his life to be with her in the afterlife. She was like a mother to him and he loved only her more than his sisters.  
  
"Don't be gone too long. Watch your purse." She told him, not looking up from what she was doing. He snorted. The chances of someone picking his pockets were very slim. After all, he had been a thief once and knew all the little tricks. He looked down at his hands as he walked the slightly familiar streets.  
  
When he was thirteen, he had gotten tired of constantly being watch and not admitted into places because of the two X's on the web of skin between his thumb and forefinger, he mixed some vegetable dyes and with Sandry's best needles, made himself some vine tattoos to cover the X's on each hand. The only problem was he didn't consult Rosethorn and didn't think that the vegetable dyes would be affected by his green magic. It was and the design became a living plant in his skin. It didn't bother him at all. Actually, he found it to be amusing. Suddenly, he fell backwards at the impact of someone running straight into him.  
  
"I'm so sorry!" the person ---a girl, started, helping him up and dusting him off. "I am so sorry, sir…" She trailed off, looking into his eyes. "Roach?" she whispered his former name.  
  
"I was Roach. It's Briar now. Do I know you?" He asked, looking into her golden-violet eyes. She looked very familiar.  
  
"It's me. Honeyblossom." She laughed. "I can't believe its you! We all thought you were dead!" He smiled. Of course he remembered her. The jewelry he was caught with had been meant for her. When he was a child, he had been sweet on her. Then again, who wasn't? She had golden skin like his own, long curly black hair that fell just past her shoulders and a body with all the perfect curves.  
  
"What have you been up to? And why are you in such a hurry?" he asked as she started to walk.  
  
"Well, I'm late for work. And I've been doing just basically the same things I was doing as a child, only with some differences."  
  
"Really? You work? Doing?" She gave him a soft smile.  
  
"The Thief Lord sold me to a brothel. I work for Telsan's Inn." She spoke of one of the most horrid and vile brothel houses where the girls were beaten and starved on a daily basis. "He gets 40% of everything I make and Telsan gets 40%."  
  
"Telsan's? Honeydew? Why?" He asked, using his pet name for her.  
  
"Nothing I could do about it. I'm actually better off than Telsan's other girls. I still work thieving," She held up her hands to show two tattoos that had matched his once. He grinned, holding up his two to show her the living tattoos. "It's true than. You are one of the four kid mages." She looked him up and down. "Well, not so much a kid anymore."  
  
"Don't go back to Telsan." He whispered, taking her hands into his. "Come with me back to Winding Circle. You can live with me and my sisters and we'll take care of you." She looked down to hide her tears.  
  
"I have to. Telsan owns me." She answered in a wavering voice. He placed his fingers under her chin and lifted her head.  
  
"No one can own you. You own yourself." He whispered in a husky voice. Suddenly there was a wild commotion and Honeyblossom was wrenched from his grasp. "Honeydew!" he called to her, shoving his way through the group of brawling men who wanted to claim her for the night.  
  
"Briar!" She yelled, reaching for him only to be pulled away by the big man, Telsan.  
  
"Be runnin' off a'gin, eh bitch?" Telsan snarled, hitting her in the face. She whimpered and Briar screamed a curse and began to thrown the men out of his way. "No way are you goin' ta kep ta busnis frm meh." He hit her again and again before Briar reached out with his magic and forced some nearby plants to grow, collapsing years of growth into a matter of seconds. The vines wrapped themselves around Telsan and lifted him up. All the brawling men stopped to watch wide-eyed as Telsan was thrown about by Briar's angry plant.  
  
"Honeydew?" He whispered grabbing the bleeding and sobbing girl. 'Sandry? Daja? Tris? Can you get Niko and Rosethorn? Tell them to come here.' He flashed a picture of his surroundings to the girls.  
  
'We're coming.' Sandry replied cutting off the communications. Minutes later, the mages burst onto the scene  
  
"What happened?" Rosethorn demanded, rushing to Honeyblossom's side. In a few minutes, Briar explained the entire situation. Rosethorn reached for the girl and she whimpered, pulling away.  
  
"Briar…" She whispered, burying her face into his chest. "Don't let them hurt me anymore."  
  
"Don't be silly." Rosethorn snapped. "I'm a mage. I'm not going to hurt you."  
  
'Much.' Tris commented. The others who could hear her stifled laughter and Briar just glared at her.  
  
"It's okay, Honeydew. Rosethorn won't hurt you." He told the frightened girl. "We had better get her to a healer."  
  
****  
  
"Briar?" Honeydew sat up two days later.  
  
"Yes?" he looked up from the table where his shakkan plant sat.  
  
"Where am I?"  
  
"Hajra. In a little house we rented until you get strong enough to travel."  
  
"Oh." She laid back down. "I'm sorry I'm so much trouble."  
  
"Trouble? You?" He asked, coming to her side. "You are nothing that even resembles trouble." She smiled and brushed a bit of hair from his face. These days, he allowed his hair to grow longer than he had when he was younger. The sides and back were short but the top grew a bit longer, falling into his eyes in little commas.  
  
"I should warn you I'm on the run right now. I was caught stealing some gold from this lady. The Guard is after me." He sighed.  
  
"Maybe you are a bit of trouble." He teased her. "Aren't you tired of being in bed so much?"  
  
"Yes. I really want to go outside. I feel as if I'm wilting. Can we go outside? Just for a little bit?" She asked, looking at him with begging eyes.  
  
"All right. But only for a while." He helped her up and turned away as she slipped out of her nightgown and into something else. He looked down at his manhood that fought to escape his breeches. He never should have looked at her curves in that thin, gaudy nightgown. He sighed and took deep breaths like he didn't in medication. He relaxed as other parts of him relaxed as well.  
  
"Come on, Briar." She took his hand and ran for the door. They walked to the marketplace and were inspecting some fruit when they heard  
  
"There she is! That's the thief that stole my gold!" a woman screeched and several Guards came running. Briar cursed as the Hajra Street Guard surrounded them.  
  
'Guys? I need Niko, Rosethorn and Lark again.' He called to his sisters.  
  
'What did you do now?' Tris asked as they were hauled to the local prison and thrown into the same holding cell he had stayed in so long ago. The moss that had been his friend had grown to cover the entire room.  
  
****  
  
"Hands." The judge said, bored. The guard slammed Honeyblossom's hands and the table to reveal her X's. "Docks."  
  
"Wait." Niko said. "May I see her again?"  
  
"Bring her back." Briar grinned. Niko was at it again. He had already gotten Briar set loose. For the second time.  
  
"She has magic." Niko whispered.  
  
"What!?" Briar demanded.  
  
"She does." Tris whispered. "Look closely. You can barely see it." Briar looked at Honey and sure enough, there was the glimmer of silver that marked magic.  
  
"I wish to take her back to Winding Circle." Niko said, looking at the judge.  
  
"Do you agree?" the judge yawned.  
  
"Yes." Honey looked at the floor. *Now I'm in for it. I should have told him I had magic to begin with! *  
  
"Name? I can't sign papers to a temple with Honeyblossom as a name." The man writing the documents said. Honey thought about it for a second.  
  
"Krystal" She answered looking down at the pretty light crystal briar had given her.  
  
"Last name?"  
  
"Honeyblossom." *So there is a way for me to save my name. *  
  
****  
  
THREE WEEKS LATER  
  
"So what do you think of your new home, Krystal Honeyblossom?" Briar asked, leading her to the doors of Discipline.  
  
"I love it." She answered, swinging her magic of love into the air. She had thought her magic was only apparent when she was happy, but it was soon discovered that it was Love where her magic lied. With her magic, as long as she knew love and was loved, she could do anything. She could convert it to plant magic, weather magic, thread magic, healing magic, and metal magic. Anything she set her mind to.  
  
"I'm glad you do, because you'll be here a long time." Briar placed his arms around her waist and placed his lips on hers.  
  
  
  
THE END!  
  
I might have another story on Honeyblossom in the future. Depending on how many people like this story, which was all written in a matter of an hour at 3 in the morning. I go sleep now. BYE!!!! 


End file.
